Restrict the legal access of the rich not litigants in person

You report (Legal aid cuts will cost more in long run, say judges, 25 February) that Lord Igor Judge, head of the judiciary, is concerned at the slowing down of court process due to a "massive increase in litigants in person" – people appearing without a lawyer; and you quote the president of the Family Division (Nicholas Wall) as saying that "Litigants in person do not understand the process which has to be explained to them" (so he wants to keep legal aid so lawyers can do the explaining).

In a recent divorce high asset case (a preliminary issue only was decided on 28 January: Goldstone v Goldstone), the court of appeal, with no apparent hint of a blush, commented that the case so far had involved five full Family Division judges and it was but in "the forensic foothills".

In the future there lies a two day disclosure hearing, a 10-day preliminary issue hearing, and a seven-day final hearing, with who knows what beyond that in terms of appeal and enforcement.

Moreover, this case will bring in to the taxpayer the same court fee (£240) as the case which takes only an hour or two of court time. That must be one of the most regressive forms of taxation imaginable. To the lawyers it will presumably bring riches barely imaginable to many of us.

Meanwhile Nicholas Wall chairs a committee of mostly civil servants and junior judges who have produced a brand new set of procedural rules, for the same set of people who need to have the "process … explained". These rules – which come into operation on 6 April – are, in many parts, barely understandable and often of doubtful legal principle. Where is the logic in that? We need a set of rules that do not need a lawyer intermediary to enable us to understand.

The conclusions from these two stories of rich and poor are simple. The judges should exert much more effective control over rich people's litigation. The government should make them pay for the luxury of using the courts for long periods of time – at least when their assets are above, say, £500,000. And until family lawyers can produce a set of rules which an averagely intelligent layperson can understand – and we're a very long way from that yet – do not mess with legal aid for litigants in the family law system.